Founded by the Phoenicians some 2600 years ago, Marseille has been a crossroad of immigration ever since. Throughout its long history, the city has received successive waves of populations of many nationalities, cast adrift by political and economical chaos. Over time, these strata upon strata of immigrants seeking to find a balance between new lives and old traditions shaped the city into a colorful, multi-ethnic threshold between France and the Southern Mediterranean shores.

The nineteenth century Gare Saint Charles has received a complete makeover.

For many decades, however, and especially since the Second World War, Marseille had suffered an enduring image issue. Although one of the most important Mediterranean ports, the city was dismissed for its seedy reputation, urban decay and high crime figures. Not exactly a compelling pitch for tourism-minded visitors. But with the new century, things are turning around.

From Regional Reprobate to European Capital of Culture

The original old harbor is now the city’s largest marina.

As part of a concerted transformation effort, Marseille prepared for, and won in 2009, the designation of European Capital of Culture 2013. It now had four years to get its act together. The city famous for its lethargic pace shifted into high gear. It was scrubbed clean and refurbished. Its waterfront got a radical facelift.

The Vieux Port (Old Harbor), the one-kilometer (over half a mile) long natural harbor that was the center of all maritime activities since antiquity had begun to decline in the mid-nineteenth century when its shallow six-meter (20 foot) depth made it unsuitable for the new steamships. Today, it is a large, sundrenched marina where sail and fishing boats bob alongside glitzy yachts and the occasional tall ship.

L’Ombrière transforms the waterfront into an upsidown theatre.

The entrance to the waterfront has become a vast plaza where British architect Norman Foster’s L’Ombrière (the sunshade) stretches atop slender steel stilts, six meters above the newly repaved water’s edge. The thin canopy, 46 by 22 meter (151 by 72 feet) of highly polished stainless steel, transforms the square into an astonishing inverted theatre that reflects the ever-changing space below. In the morning the fishermen selling the catch of the night right off their boats along the quay become a lively part of the show.

The Icon of Contemporary Marseille

The broad new pedestrian concourse to the right of the plaza is lined with sprawling, shaded terraces of restaurants that entice patrons with their fresh-of-the-boat menus. From there, they also get spectacular view of the south side of the Vieux Port, with the grand nineteenth century Neo-Byzantine basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde (literally Our Lady of Protection) soaring into the vivid azure sky, high above the forest of masts.

The ancient Fort Saint Jean is now an integral part of the MuCEM..

Then, at the mouth of the harbor, the latest icon of contemporary Marseille, the Musée des Civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée (MuCEM for short) has become one of the city’s most popular destination. Open in 2013, this new museum devoted to European and Mediterranean civilizations, was allocated a spectacular location, a former port pier with sweeping westward views of the sea and the setting sun. The daring contemporary building is adjacent to the historic Fort Saint Jean that has been guarding the entrance of the Vieux Port since the seventeenth century, and is now an integral part of museum complex.

The new MuCEM is wrapped in a veil of latticed concrete .

From the top of the Fort a daring 135-meter (450 foot) long footbridge flies across the water to the roof terrace of the museum. The new MuCEM structure, designed by local architect Rudy Ricciotti, is a 72 by 72 meter (235 by 235 foot) square box of glass and steel wrapped in a veil of latticed concrete that also partially extends over the roof terrace. The fort grounds and gardens are free to explore, as are the museum terrace and the walkways that twist between the glass walls of the new exhibit space and its outer lacey shell.

Interior walkways run between the glass walls of the exhibit space and the lacey outer shell

A second high footbridge connects the top of the fort’s Royal Gate to the twelfth century Provencal Romanesque church of Saint Laurent, at the edge of the historic hillside neighborhood of Le Panier (the Basket). The bridge thus opens the new site to the city and contributes its own stupendous views of the Vieux Port and the waterfront.

What of the Actual Museum?

Thir waterwheel have been used in Egypt since times immemorial to irrigate fields.

My visit of the exhibit space leaves me with a sense that the complex is less about content than adding a striking new architectural chapter to the three-millennia history of the city. There is a disconnect between the magnificent shell and the building it is meant to serve. The core of the MuCEM is a boxy 52 by 52 by 18 meter volume that contains a basement auditorium and two floors of cramped galleries.

Its main attraction is a lackluster retrospective of the history, genealogy and culture of the Mediterannean. It is supplemented by temporary exhibits that vary widely in theme. At the time my visit, it features an exposition tracing the influence of popular arts and traditions in the works of Picasso. It also includes an overview of the life and works of Jean Genet, a twentieth century French social outcast turned writer and political activist who, as a dramatist, became a leading figure in the avant-garde theatre.

While the museum is not without interest, it the site, with its unique blend of historic military architecture, contemporary structural creativity, pleasant terrace restaurant and stupendous views that I found to be most worthy of a visit.

Good to Know

Getting there – Marseille is easily reached by train, with multiple direct TGV (high speed train) connections throughout the day from Paris (3.5 hours) and Lyon (1.5 hour), as well as Geneva (3.5 hours), Brussels (5.5 hours) and Frankfurt (7 hours). The trains take travelers to the Saint Charles station, right in the center of the city. For air travelers, the Marseille-Provence International Airport is 30 kilometers (18.5 miles) northwest of the city has numerous flights throughout the day from Paris, London and other major European cities. A shuttle bus runs every 15 minutes between the airport and the central bus terminal behind the Saint Charles station.

Getting around – The greater Marseille area is served by a public transport system, known at RTM (Régie des Transports de Marseille), which includes two Metro lines, M1 (the blue line, runs east-west) and M2 (the red line, runs north-south), two Tram lines, T1 and T2, also running east-west and north-south respectively, and over 70 Bus lines. Note: most bus routes do not operate after 9:00 pm and metro and tram services stops at 0:30 am

Boats Excursions – The Vieux Port is the starting point for a number of boat tours of the shoreline calanques (fjords) as well as excursions to the nearby Frioul island and the Château d’If (of Comte de Monte Cristo fame). Spur-of-the-moment tickets can be purchased at their berthing point. However, to find the tour best suited to your interests and budget, see the Marseille Office de Tourisme site for a comprehensive list of tour companies and their offerings.

Visiting – MuCEM. Promenade Robert Laffont, Marseille (official address). Its main entrance, the Fort Saint-Jean Lower Entrance is located at 201 Quai du Port. Open Wednesday through Monday. Closed on Tuesday and December 25, as well as May 1. Open at 11:00 am year-round. Closing time varies with the seasons from 6:00 pm in winter to 8:00 pm in summer. For exact opening information, check their website or contact: tel. +33 (0) 4 84 35 13 13.

A Few Souvenirs

Location, location, location!

MuCEM

First a major Gallo-Roman center of trade, then a financial and industrial powerhouse of the Renaissance Lyon has long been a fertile ground for museums. From fine arts to the history of silk, and from Gallo-Roman civilization to the invention of the cinema, there are over 20 museums in Lyon to satisfy the most diverse interests.

Musée des Beaux Arts

Bathsheba at her Bath, by Paolo Veronese (1528-1588)

Created in 1803 in a magnificent seventeenth century abbey in the heart of the central Presqu’Ile neighborhood, it is one of the premier regional museums of fine arts in France. Think of it as a human-size version of the Louvre without the crowds. With 70 galleries of exhibit space, it woos visitors with rich collections that offer an outstanding view of the evolution of art, from ancient Egypt to contemporary times. The paintings section alone section occupies 35 galleries where all the great European Schools from the Renaissance to the twentieth century are represented.

The Sacred Forest Beloved by the Arts and Muses by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824-1898).

While the museum is justifiably proud of its masterpieces by the likes of Tintoretto, Veronese, Rembrandt, Rubens and Poussin, the stairway murals by Lyon native Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, a forbearer of the Symbolism movement, are also well worth a second look. His murals, by the way, also grace the grand staircase of the Boston Public Library as well as the main amphitheatre of the Sorbonne in Paris.

Democritus Meditating on the Seat of the Soul by Léon-Alexandre Delhomme (1841-1895).

At the heart of the abbey, the former cloister is now a public garden with a central fountain created from an antique sarcophagus. This serene space shaded by ancient trees also serves as a sculpture garden, with works by nineteenth century French masters Rodin, Bourdelle, Maillol and Delhomme.

Musées des Tissus

Housed in a gracious eighteenth century mansion, the Musée des Tissus holds one of the richest textile collection in the world.

This unique Museum of Textiles has its genesis in the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, the first in a series Universal Exhibitions of culture and industry that would become popular in the nineteenth century. It inspired the visiting Lyonnais manufacturers to create a museum to showcase the superior technical and artistic capabilities of the city’s silk industry. Opened in 1864, it originally offered an encyclopedic view of samples and drawings, until the 1890’s when its scope broadened to cover the history of textiles.

Today, the museum holds one of the most important collections of textiles in the world, with close to two-and-a-half million pieces covering four millennia of production, housed in the lovely eighteenth century Hôtel de Villeroy, in the center the Presqu’Ile. From rare third century Coptic caftans to magnificent twelfth century Sicilian silk tapestries woven with gold threads made from intestine membranes coated with gold leaf, each unique item has its own fascinating story.

Mid-eighteenth century court gown in the “à la Pompadour” style.

There is a doublet worn by famous historic figure Charles de Blois, Duke of Brittany (1318-1364). Made of rare Persian silk, this ceremonial quilted jacket was intended to fit under a suit of armor, so the Duke could just shed the metal garment and go straight from battle to festivities. Stunning Lyon silks especially created for Marie Antoinette’s gowns are here, along with the rose and green tapestries she left behind in her bedroom during her ill-fated escape attempt from Versailles. Entire rooms of gowns and other ceremonial attire spanning several centuries illustrate the synergy between the development of the silk and French fashion. I could lose myself for days in here!

Musée des Arts Décoratifs

Original period rooms are preserved intact at the Museum of Applied Arts.

Originally part of the Museum of Textiles, this applied arts institution was spun off as a distinct collection in the adjoining Hôtel de Lacroix-Lavalle in 1925. In addition to its wealth of decorative objects from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance to contemporary times, the museum also offers the opportunity to walk through a number of period rooms, mainly from the eighteenth century, donated with their entire contents, including wall paneling, with the provision that they remain intact. Here, it is possible to appreciate in situ the artistry of furniture and textile craftsmen of the period.

Musée Lumière

For movie buffs, this is where is all began, the birthplace of le cinématographe, the nineteenth century ancestor of the camcorder invented by two brothers, Auguste and Louis Lumière. Here, on March 19,1895, they recorded a 46 second film of employees leaving their family’s photo-plate business. Next door, the grand Art Nouveau mansion where the family lived is now a museum that features their famous cinématographe, along with a number of early film-making devices, including Edison’s boxy wooden kinetoscope. In the garden, a hangar is all that remains of the factory. It is now a movie theater with a dynamic program of international film classics.

Musée Gallo-Romain de Lyon-Fourvière

The permanent collections feature fine Roman mosaics.

Partially buried into the Fourvière hillside next to the Roman Theatre archeological site, the museum offers a journey back into ancient history with its concrete spiral ramp descending and branching out into display galleries. The permanent collections feature Roman, Celtic and pre-Roman artifacts, including fine mosaics, sculptures, jewelry, ceramics and everyday objects as well as an enigmatic Celtic calendar. There is also a relief map of the ancient town as well as scale models of its major monuments, including the Theatre and the Odeon.

Musée des Confluences

The futuristic Musée des Confluences is Lyon’s latest.

Built at the very southern tip of the Presqu’Ile, on a peninsula that was artificially extended a century ago at the confluence of the Saône and the Rhône rivers, the sprawling glass and steel structure brings to mind a spaceship that has just gone through a hard landing. Opened in December 2014 with the ambitious mission to “tell the story of man from its origins to modern days,” this new anthropology and science museum left me a bit dazed. Going from the skeleton of a 155 million year old Camarasaurus from Wyoming to the smart phone, and from the vision of after-life in indigenous cultures around the world to the exploration of Antarctica in a couple of hours can feel a tad disorienting.

Good to Know

Musée des Beaux Arts – 20 Place des Terreaux, Lyon, 69001. Open Wednesday through Monday from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. Open until 10:00 on the first Friday of the month except August. Closed on Tuesday and national holidays. Contact: Tel. + 33 (0) 4 72 10 17 40.

Location, location, location!

Musée des Beaux Arts

It’s a sultry late summer day in Paris. The kind of weather that has tourists wilting under every bit of shade to be found in the Tuilleries Garden. What better time to retreat to the cool comfort of one of my favorite well-kept-secret museums?

Elegant grillwork marks the entrance of the Avenue Velasquez.

Located on the secluded Avenue Velasquez, in a remote enclave of the posh eighth arrondissement just a few steps away from the Parc Monceau, the Musée Cernuschi is a unique gift from its namesake, nineteenth century Renaissance man Henri Cernuschi, to the city of Paris.

Who is Henri Cernuschi?

Monumental Chinese and Japanese ceramic urns set the tone in the main foyer.

The history of the museum is indissociable of that of the man. Born in1828 into a wealthy Milanese family, Enrico Cernuschi is an Italian patriot who flees to France in the wake the 1850 collapse of the Rome revolutionary government, and in time acquires French citizenship. In Paris, he becomes a prominent economist, banker and passionate Asian art collector who makes his fortune during the Second Empire (1852-1870).

Henri Cernuschi’s Chinese bronze collection ranges from the Neolithic to the thirteenth century.

An ardent republican, he actively supports efforts to create the French Third Republic, which once again puts him in a precarious political situation during the violent socialist uprising known as the Paris Commune (1871). He wisely decides remove himself to the Far East, where during a seventeen month journey through Japan and then China, he amasses well over 4,000 works of art, mainly ancient bronzes and ceramics.

The bequest of Henri Cernuschi turned his private residence into one of the foremost Asian art museum in Europe.

Upon his return in 1873, Cernuschi commissions the neo-classical Parisian architect William Bouwens der Boijen to design his private mansion on the Avenue Velasquez, where he lives surrounded by his continuously expending art collection. Upon his death (1896) he bequeaths the mansion and its contents to the city of Paris, with arrangements for it to be turned into a museum. Inaugurated in 1898, the Cernuschi Museum is now the second largest museum of Asian art in France after the Musée Guimet.

An Evolving Treasure Trove

The museum has retained the atmosphere of the grand private residence it once was, noted especially for its Chinese collection that range from the Neolithic age to the thirteenth century, including rare mingqi (tomb figures) from the Han dynasty, 206 BC–220 AD. However, its most striking piece is the 4.4-meter (14.5-foot) high eighteenth century bronze Amida Buddha displayed in the soaring central hall. Purchased from a small temple in the Meguro neighborhood of Tokyo, it is also known as the Meguro Buddha.

Over the past century, the collection has grown steadily through donations and purchases to its current holdings of over 12,000 pieces, 900 of which are permanently on display. Today, in addition to showcasing one of the leading collection of Chinese art in Europe, the museum also features fine Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese works. And for the past century it frequently holds temporary thematic exhibitions of international stature. One more reason to periodically revisit this exquisite treasure trove of Asian art.

Getting to Know Zao Wou-Ki

The purpose of my recent visit to the Cernuschi Museum, other than escaping the scorching heat, is the opportunity to view a recent donation of works by another exceptional exile, the recently deceased Chinese-born French artist Zao Wou-ki.

The recent donation of works by Chinese-born French artist is the object of a major temporary exhibition.

Born in Beijing in 1920 and raised in Shanghai where his father is a banker, Zao Wou-ki’s precocious talent earns him admission at the age of 15 to the prestigious Hangzhou National College of Art (now the China Academy or Art). There, in addition to traditional Chinese drawing, painting and calligraphy, he is introduced to western perspective and oil painting, and develops an enthusiastic interest in Post-Impressionism. Drawn by the work of leading European artists, especially Cezanne, Matisse and Picasso he travel to Paris in 1948, a move intended to be temporary but soon becomes permanent due to the communist takeover of China. Within a few years he begins to develop the luminous style of abstract art that becomes evident in his bold large-scale paintings

Budding artists experiment with ink on paper in front of a grouping of major abstracts works by Zao Wou-ki.

The works in the donation illustrate this key early period as he transitions from figuration to abstraction. It includes a number of his experiments on paper with charcoals, watercolors and inks. Then there are abstract ink compositions from the 1970’s to 2000’s as well as a striking series of late works on porcelain (2006-2009) that illustrate clearly the evolution of his artistic journey.

My visit concludes with the screening of Zao Wou-ki : Lumières et couleurs sans limites (Zao Wou-ki: lights and colors without boundaries), an enlightening hour-long documentary that puts into context the life and work of this fascinating artist widely recognized today as one of the foremost Chinese painters of the twentieth century.

Getting there – There is easy public transportation from anywhere in Paris to the museum: Métro stations Villiers or Monceau (line 2) or Villers (line 3) or Bus stop Malesherbes/Courcelles (bus numbers 30 and 94).

It’s Free! As is the case with all the City of Paris-owned museums, entrance to the permanent collection of the Musée Cernuschi is always free of charge. Temporary exhibits have a nominal entrance fee.